thatXJguy

It was on sale too. Normal price is $360. I got the Cyber Monday price.

I haven't met a guy that wasn't happy with a Banks Exhaust.

Also, I think it was you that told me I had the low pinion diff guard on my axle by mistake? I got my HP diff guard today and put that on .

McGeeXJ

My flowmaster super 44 was like $75ish, and the tailpipe was about $30. I shopped around for the best price. It was one of the first mods my xj got/needed, I love it.

thatXJguy

Today I had a real "DOH" moment. The jack started slipping out from under the Jeep while I was rotating the tires, because apparently, my wood chocks were breaking under the weight of the Jeep and the tire started moving right over it.

So... I got behind the Jeep and lifted it up with all my brute force and when it finally gave way, I carefully let it down on the ground. So my drum brake was sitting on the driveway. No biggy. Didn't break anything. At least it went down easy instead of smashing.



So... I needed my buddy to come over with a floor jack to get it back up off the ground. We got it up and continued the tire rotation. Then he left.

Not even a few minutes later, I get a phone call, "man, I just got into an accident."

Crap... a sad day for his nice XJ:



So now we're hunting for a Cherokee shell to swap his drivetrain into. His Cherokee is totaled.

thatXJguy

The big gain with the banks is the flow. You get a 108% flow improvement with their system. I'm not sure how that compares to the competition, but I love the sound of the banks monster.

88whitecomanche

That seriously sucks....

Battle

That does suck indeed. Crappy day is crappy but at least he's okay. Another XJ saved a life it seems.

I also hate to be "that guy" but what wheels are those your buddy has?

thatXJguy

Yeah the fact that he's okay is all that matters.

They're aluminum American Racing rims.

As you can see, the impact from the crash actually cracked the front rim. I prefer Cragar's V-5 steel wheels.

thatXJguy

The new Banks Monster exhaust came today!

Here I am delivering it to my buddy's house to get the thing installed:



I opened the box to an awesome shiny new muffler with some 3-D Banks stickers:



And it took a while, but we got the stock exhaust out:



Did a little grinding on the trailer hitch to make room for the larger 2.5-inch stainless steel tailpipe:



Muffler on!



Will have videos showing and demonstrating the exhaust soon!

thatXJguy

Okay, I've had just about enough of the annoying lifters while the Jeep is starting up. Rattling and dieseling. Annoying as all hell, and I get so many dirty looks because of it. That's not something I can pride myself in.

Sometime in the beginning of the year I am ripping the head off of my engine and putting in new lifters. I believe that one of them has collapsed. Since I'm due for a valve cover gasket anyway to fix a leak, I'll check to see if any of the rocker arms are loose to verify, but the Jeep is getting new lifters either way.

So far, the exhaust is doing great. I seem to have a lot more lower end power.

thatXJguy

With the new Dana 30 (high pinion) Rough Country differential guard, I can finally access my gear oil plug:



I had purchased the regular Dana 30 Rough Country differential guard for XJs from Rough Country's site one year ago, and it was for the low pinion Dana 30. The difference in filler hole height made it impossible to refill oil without having the guard off. This new one fits much better on my differential, and even better, it sits lower, keeping it away from the ZJ tie rod.



I love it!

thatXJguy

Just ordered this while it was on sale:

thatXJguy

I just traced down an annoying squeak in my dash.

There is a spot under the glove box and to the right of the center bezel where a lip of metal overlaps plastic. Over bumps, it scrapes, and causes this horrible squeak.

I shoved some cotton ***** in between there and tightened the glove box back in and that squeak is now non-existent. Woo!

thatXJguy

Picked up the Rough Country leaf spring shackle relocation kit while it was on sale for just $89 and it arrived yesterday, so I'll be getting that in soon!



Also, I took a nice Christmas-y shot at the Jeep house yesterday!

thatXJguy

Just got that shackle relocation kit installed this evening:



The kit officially gets rid of my 90º shackle angle and brings them closer to a 45º angle. I could and probably will move the shackle up forward one additional notch for an even closer-to-45º angle, but for now, this will do.

It also added another inch of lift in the back, which could be considered a plus. With my 1-inch front coil spacers, I now have a 7.5-inch lift on my XJ.

The new shackle angle has made the back feel a lot less stiff when hitting pot holes and other nuisances in the road. I would say it is a good improvement.

kcdt58

What lift shackles are you running?